From Labour’s support of our campaign to take on high-stakes, high-street gambling, to widespread coverage of our influence on the Conservative manifesto, ResPublica’s impact has been evident across the election campaign. As the vote approaches, our team turns its attention to what a new Government might mean for the UK, and for our key policy programmes.

Industrial Strategy

This election is a moment to finally build a consensus on the country’s industrial approach – the failure to do so has held back our economic success. All three manifestos back an industrial strategy but it is a cornerstone of the Conservative and Labour plans. Building consensus means new governments don’t rip up policies and institutions. Whatever Government is elected a shared industrial approach means working with parts of the UK, including the administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and elected mayors which are not necessary of the same political hue.

To read more, click here.

Social Reform

ResPublica’s Social Reform programme seeks to address the defining political issue of our time: the great divides of wealth and power across the nation. Despite the prominence of Brexit in the public debate at this election, this broader issue will also be an important factor for voters in weighing up which party they believe is best-placed to form the next Government. We here therefore evaluate the parties’ proposals on a range of issues which are of critical importance in achieving this vital goal.

To read more, click here.

Devolution, cities and regions

The campaign has seen some commonly-aired criticisms of the UK’s subnational government, on unfair funding and out-of-date business taxes. Labour wants to recreate the regional institutions abolished by the Tories, who are looking to build on their post-2010 reforms, especially in counties. At at an existential juncture for the UK, all parties acknowledge problems with the current structure of the Union – but arguably lack real answers.

To read more, click here.

Coverage

Comment

• Phillip Blond: Theresa May mustn’t let prospect of victory get in way of clear ideology (The Observer)
• Edward Douglas: There’s A New Consensus On Housebuilding, But Is There A Gap In The Manifesto? (Huffington Post)
• Phillip Blond: The Red Tories are here – but they could be even more radical (The Times Red Box)
• Duncan Sim: Tory Predicament Shows Again Why Social Care Is The Pandora’s Box Of Policymaking (Huffington Post)
• Deutsche Welle: May buys Brexit time with early UK election
• The Guardian: Corbyn pins Labour’s election hopes on housing reform pledges
• The Times: The high-stakes high street gambling crisis (£)
• The Big Issue: Labour pledges crackdown on FOBT machines
• The Times: The class warrior turning May red (£)
• BBC: Is Theresa May a Red Tory?

Interviews

• Phillip Blond on Sky News, 20 April 2017
• Phillip Blond on Sky News, 28 April 2017
• Phillip Blond on BBC Radio 4 – The Today Programme, 22 May 2017